George Herbert Walker Bush

BUSH, GEORGE HERBERT WALKER

George Herbert Walker Bush capped a full and distinguished political career with his election in 1988 as President of the United States. Bush became the forty-first chief executive after serving for eight years as the nation’s vice president under RONALD REAGAN. The most memorable events of his one-term presidency were the Desert Shield and Desert Storm Operations in the Persian Gulf in 1991.

Although Bush was enormously popular in the aftermath of the Persian GulfWar, his standing with the U.S. public plummeted as domestic problems and a sour economy took their toll. In 1992, Bush lost the presidential election to Democratic challenger BILL CLINTON, the governor of Arkansas. Clinton’s campaign offered a promise of change and a “new covenant” between citizens and government.

Born June 12, 1924, in Milton, Massachusetts,
Bush was the son of Prescott Sheldon
Bush, an international banker and U.S. senator
from Connecticut, and Dorothy Walker Bush,
the daughter of a wealthy St. Louis businessman.
Both parents had a tremendous influence on
Bush, who was unpretentious and hardworking
despite his privileged background.
As a young boy, Bush attended Greenwich
Country Day School, in Greenwich, Connecticut,
and Phillips Academy, an elite prep school
in Andover, Massachusetts. At Andover, Bush
excelled academically and athletically. Nicknamed
Poppy after his grandfather Walker, Bush
was a popular student, serving as class president
and captain of the basketball and soccer teams.
When WORLD WAR II broke out, Bush was
determined to see military action. On June 12,
1942, shortly after graduation from Andover, he
enlisted in the U.S. Navy. At the age of 20, he
became the youngest commissioned pilot in
Navy history. Bush was stationed in the Pacific
theater and flew dozens of dangerous missions.
On September 2, 1944, while Bush was assigned
to the USS Jacinto, his plane was shot down near
a Japanese island. Bush bailed out of the aircraft and was rescued at sea; his crewmen did not
survive.
Bush returned to the United States after his
tour of duty and entered Yale University, in New
Haven, Connecticut. Not surprisingly, Bush had
an outstanding college career. He played varsity
baseball, was inducted into the Skull and Crossbones
secret society, and in 1948 graduated Phi
Beta Kappa with a degree in economics.
Before entering Yale in 1945, Bush married
Barbara Pierce, the daughter of the publisher of
McCall’s and Redbook. Their first child, future
President GEORGE WALKER BUSH, was born during
Bush’s senior year of college. The couple
eventually had six children, including John
(Jeb), Neil, Marvin, and Dorothy. Their second
child, Robin, died of leukemia in 1953.
After graduating from Yale, Bush and his
young family headed for Texas, determined to
make their fortune in the oil business. In 1951,
Bush started Bush-Overby Oil Development
Company, and in 1954, he created Zapata Offshore
Company, which designed and built offshore
drilling platforms.
Bush’s success in the oil business kindled his
political ambitions. In 1964, Bush entered the
race for U.S. senator from Texas but lost to
Democrat Ralph Yarborough. Two years later,
Bush made it to Washington, D.C., as a member
of the U.S. House of Representatives from the
Seventh District of Texas. Reelected to the
House in 1968, Bush was a member of the influential
House Ways and Means Committee. In
1970, he again ran for the Texas Senate seat, this
time losing to Democrat Lloyd Bentsen.
Despite his defeat Bush’s career in public
service was far from over. During the 1970s he
held a wide range of appointive posts and built
up an impressive résumé. From 1971 to 1973
Bush served as the U.S. ambassador to the
UNITED NATIONS. In 1974 he was the chair of
the Republican National Committee. In 1974
and 1975 Bush traveled to the People’s Republic
of China as the U.S. liaison officer. And from
1976 to 1977 he was the head of the CENTRAL
INTELLIGENCE AGENCY.
Confident in his experience and abilities,
Bush announced his intention to run for president.
From 1977 to 1980 he actively campaigned
for the Republican nomination. Although he lost
the 1980 GOP nod to Reagan, the conservative
governor of California, Bush was chosen by Reagan
as his vice presidential candidate. The Reagan-
Bush ticket reached the White House easily
in 1980, defeating incumbent president JIMMY
CARTER and vice president Walter F.Mondale.
Bush was a late convert to Reagan’s conservatism.
As a U.S. representative in the 1960s
Bush had been a political moderate, voting in
favor of open housing, the abolishment of the
military draft, and the vote for 18-year-olds. As
vice president under Reagan, Bush became more
conservative.
Bush was a loyal vice president and basked in
the reflected glory of Reagan, a popular president.
When Reagan and Bush ran again in 1984,
they won in a landslide victory against Democratic
candidate Mondale and his running mate,
GERALDINE FERRARO.
In 1988 the REPUBLICAN PARTY rewarded
Bush for his loyal service as vice president.
Despite an early defeat in the Iowa caucuses,
Bush won the GOP nomination for president.
To the surprise of many, Bush chose Dan
Quayle, a relatively unknown and inexperienced
senator from Indiana, as his running mate. The
choice puzzled many political experts who felt
that Quayle’s credentials were meager.
Bush and Quayle ran against Governor
Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts and Bush’s
old nemesis from Texas, Senator Bentsen. During
the campaign Bush resorted to some tactics
that seemed out of keeping with his congenial
personality. One Bush TV commercial focused
on Willie Horton, an African American felon
who committed additional crimes upon his
release from prison in Massachusetts. Suggesting that Dukakis was soft on crime, the ad capitalized
on racial fears and prejudice. Also, despite
the soaring deficit, Bush promised to give U.S.
citizens a financial break, in the campaign
pledge, “Read My Lips: No New Taxes.”After the
election Bush’s pledge came back to haunt him:
once in office, he agreed to tax increases to combat
a $140 billion budget deficit.
Bush and Quayle captured the vote in 40
states to win the 1988 election. At his inauguration
Bush made an appeal for a “kinder, gentler
nation” and shared his vision of volunteers, like
“a thousand points of light,” helping to solve
problems.
The height of Bush’s popularity came during
Operation Desert Storm, a six-week display of
technological warfare against Sadam Hussein in
Kuwait and Iraq.
In 1992 Bush and Quayle squared off against
Democratic challengers Clinton and AL GORE, a
senator from Tennessee. The GOP incumbents
won their party’s endorsement after a bruising
primary fight with conservative columnist
PATRICK BUCHANAN. Independent candidate H.
Ross Perot, a Texas multimillionaire businessman,
also threw his hat into the ring, to further
muddle the election scene. Despite Clinton’s liabilities—
rumors of infidelity, avoidance of the
draft, and a “slick” image—Clinton was able to
defeat Bush.
Commentators often argue over the reasons
one politician wins or loses, but many agree that
a sluggish economy and Bush’s broken promise
of no new taxes hurt his chances for reelection.
Clinton and Gore, a generation younger than
Bush, won the election with a promise of change
and new beginnings.
Bush reentered the public consciousness as
two of his sons pursued their own political
careers. George W. Bush was elected governor of
the state of Texas in 1995, a position he held
until 2000. Younger son Jeb Bush served as governor
of the state of Florida in 1998. George W.
Bush ran for president in 2000 against then-
Vice-President Al Gore in one of the most hotly
contested races in U.S. history. The younger
Bush’s running mate was Richard B. (Dick)
Cheney, who had served as secretary of defense
under the elder Bush.
Although George H.W. Bush remained in
the background of the 2000 presidential election,
several of George W. Bush’s advisors had
ties to his father. For several weeks following the
election, the country focused much of its attention
on the election returns in the state of
Florida. James A. Baker III, the former SECRETARY
OF STATE under the elder Bush, served as
an advisor and spokesperson for the younger
Bush during the controversy. When George W.
Bush assembled his cabinet after the election
results had been resolved, several names tied to
the elder Bush were nominated for positions.
The most notable of these officials, Colin L.
Powell, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, was eventually nominated and sworn in as
the secretary of state.
George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush are
the first father and son to serve as presidents of
the United States since JOHN ADAMS (1797–
1801) and JOHN QUINCY ADAMS (1825–29). The
elder Bush has largely remained in the background
of his son’s presidency. Naturally, the
American press focused considerable attention
on him during his son’s candidacy and eventual election. Bush’s policies while he was in office
also came into question once again because
many viewed the election in 2000 as a repeat of
the election between George H.W. Bush and
Clinton in 1992. Several commentators agree
that a sluggish economy and Bush’s broken
promise of no new taxes hurt his chances for
reelection, and many have compared the policies
of father and son as the economy slowed under
the younger Bush.
The George Bush Presidential Library and
Museum is located in College Station, Texas, on
the campus of Texas A&M University. In addition
to several speaking engagements, Bush and
his wife divide their time between Texas and
Kennebunkport, Maine, spending time with
their children and 14 grandchildren.

FURTHER READINGS
Campbell, Colin, and Bert A. Rockman. 1991. The Bush Presidency:
First Appraisals. Chatham, N.J.: Chatham House.
Levy, Peter B. 1996. Encyclopedia of the Reagan-Bush Years.
Westport, Conn.: Greenwood.
Thompson, Kenneth W. 1997. The Bush Presidency: Ten Intimate
Perspectives of George Bush. Lanham, Md.: Univ.
Press of America.

CROSS-REFERENCES
Bush, George Walker.